Transformers: Bumblebee opened today in China, India and Sri Lanka. Fans who are hoping to see a massive box office revenue for the movie, should keep an eye on the earnings from China; the current major market for the Transformers movie series.

During the past decade, China has contributed US$ 817 million to the movie series. Transformers: Bumblebee is expected to open with US$ 58 million (Opening Weekend) in China at over 600 IMAX theaters across the country (value revised from an initial US$ 40 Million).

At the end of its first day in China, the movie has earned approximately US$ 16 Million (a little over 100 million Yuan).

The latest Transformers movie is distributed in India and Sri Lanka by Paramount Pictures India. A special Yellow Carpet Premiere was held in Sri Lanka with several invitees from the local Cosplay community; who gained international recognition over the past years. The opening day tickets were all sold out and several moviegoers expressed their sadness for not being able to buy tickets on time.

Speaking to TFW2005, Sri Lankan director Hemesh Paranavithana stated that Travis Knight exceeded expectations and the word of mouth is strong in the island nation. Moviegoer Dimuth Jayasuriya, among many others, stated that the movie was enjoyable and they had a great time watching it. You can check out several photos from the event, after the jump.

By the time this news post went up, Bumblebee has acquired US$ 81 million from United States and US$ 108 million from the rest of the world during its 3 week stay.

Photo credits: Sithira Siriwardana, Mapitigama, Sohan Gunarathne

First time a Transformers theater standee arrived to Sri Lanka. It became an instant hit.

Couldn’t help but fall in love with the whole deco.

The Invitations.

Part of the celebrity cosplay community of Sri Lanka. They absolutely loved the movie.

Who can say no to free snacks?

Walking the Yellow Carpet.

Sri Lankan director and my good friend; Hemesh Paranavithana. He’s a huge fan of the series.

Opening day is sold out. The crowd leaving the theater at the end of the movie. Standing ovation and cheers.

But st the end of day it’s still making way less in China than explosion panderfests

And we have a winner!!

Two pages in. Not bad though.

You sir/ma’am are the winner of the Negative Nancy award 2019 for this particular thread. !Negative Nancy Award!

Seriously. Keep it up. We need more negativity. And quicker. Two pages is far too long to go without a NN comment. In this board we usually get our excitement bursted well within two posts. But you let the excitement simmer for two pages. Pro material right there!

Bumblebee tops ¥1,000M on THU in China. It spend 21 days to reach billion level, which is quicker than TF3(24 days), behind TF4(5 days) & TF5( 5 days). Transformers become the first franchise which owns FOUR works of billion RMB box office. #Bumblebee

Yaaaaaay.Still, if this movie is too successful over yonder, I don't want Paramount to take that as an invitation to make anothersweaty-boobs-always-five-o'clock-in-the-afternoon-explosions-everywhere-mutant-cockroaches-from-space-styleBaystravaganza movie…

I feel like I'm sitting on pins and needles worrying and hoping thatLorenzo and the rest of his merry clown crew are smart enough to put thenail in the Bayverse coffin for good

Robot cockroach men be like: JAH JAH JAH *spits green goo*RARARARARHH ARrrahah *runs on four legs*Aaarrghrararhahh*walks up right but trips because he’s shooting and running too fast and he stumbles over a car and gets shot by a human sniper**10 more identical clones can be seen in the exploding background*"And that’s my idea for Megatron’s entourage Mr.Bay"

"What? You want all future decepticons to follow this model? But surely they are just as important as the Autobots and have personalities and motivations of their own, we have to give the source material dignity after all the awkward sex humour we also write into these films. We can’t just have them as disposable monsters. This could have long term consequences.

Yaaaaaay.Still, if this movie is too successful over yonder, I don't want Paramount to take that as an invitation to make anothersweaty-boobs-always-five-o'clock-in-the-afternoon-explosions-everywhere-mutant-cockroaches-from-space-styleBaystravaganza movie…

I feel like I'm sitting on pins and needles worrying and hoping thatLorenzo and the rest of his merry clown crew are smart enough to put thenail in the Bayverse coffin for good

If anything, this proves that you don't need to make a giant low-effort panderfest to make good money in China. I really hope Paramount has learned the right lessons from this.

Yaaaaaay. Still, if this movie is too successful over yonder, I don't want Paramount to take that as an invitation to make anothersweaty-boobs-always-five-o'clock-in-the-afternoon-explosions-everywhere-mutant-cockroaches-from-space-styleBaystravaganza movie…

I feel like I'm sitting on pins and needles worrying and hoping thatLorenzo and the rest of his merry clown crew are smart enough to put thenail in the Bayverse coffin for good

In the long run while the box office sales do matter, it's the effect on the merchandise that'll stand out more. Bumblebee is the greatest media tie in that Hasbro could ever hope for, for the SIEGE line. They didn't have to rely on a new cartoon by Boulder Media or *GASP* Machinima, phew.

It's not a direct tie in but close enough. This will be reinforced with the rebooted direction of the IDW comics using SIEGE designs.